How to Group a Report Grid by a Column in EDGEBIC

Grouping a report grid in EDGEBIC by User Solutions reorganizes the same rows under collapsible headers with a subtotal per group, turning a long flat list into a summary you can read in one pass. Right-click a column header and choose Group By This Column. Everything else in this task is about choosing the right column and knowing what happens on export.

Every task in this library is mapped on the EDGEBIC how-to hub. To pick the report to group in the first place, start with how to run the work center utilization report.

Before You Start

• The report is open and has returned rows. Grouping an empty grid does nothing visible.
• You know what question you are answering. The right grouping column is the dimension you are about to make a decision about, not the one that happens to be first.
• Nothing else is required. Grouping never changes data, so there is no risk in trying it.

Step 1: Pick the Grouping Column

Ask what the decision is organized around.

Step 2: Group

Right-click the column header and choose Group By This Column.

The grid collapses. Each distinct value becomes a header row with a subtotal, and the detail rows sit underneath. Click a header to expand it.

Step 3: Read the Summary Before the Detail

This is the point of grouping. With everything collapsed you are looking at one line per station, or per customer, or per day, with a subtotal on each. Read that first and find the two or three lines that look wrong.

Then expand only those. Expanding everything immediately puts you back where you started, which is a long flat list.

Step 4: Add a Second Level if You Need It

Drag another column header into the group-by panel above the grid. It becomes the inner level.

Customer then work center gives you a customer summary with a station breakdown inside each customer. Work center then date gives you a station summary with a daily breakdown inside each station.

The order in the panel is the nesting order. Drag the headers around inside the panel to re-nest without rebuilding.

Two levels is usually the practical limit. Three levels of nesting takes as long to read as the flat list it replaced.

Step 5: Combine With Sorting and Filtering

Grouping composes with the grid's other tools.

• Sort inside groups by clicking a detail column header. The groups stay, the rows inside them reorder.
• Filter first, then group when you want a subset summarized. Method in how to filter a report with the filter editor.

Step 6: Decide Before You Export

Exports carry the grouping and the collapsed state. That is useful when you meant it and confusing when you did not.

• Want a summary document? Collapse the groups and export. See how to export a report to PDF.
• Want the detail? Expand before exporting.
• Want a flat table for someone else's analysis? Remove the grouping first, then export to Excel. A grouped spreadsheet is not a data extract.

How to Check It Worked

• Group count matches reality. If grouping by work center produces 30 groups and you have 14 stations, the column carries free text with inconsistent spelling rather than a clean value.
• Subtotals add up. Expand one group and check its rows sum to the header. A mismatch usually means a filter is hiding rows inside the group.
• The total row count is unchanged. Grouping never removes rows. If the count dropped, something else did it.

Common Mistakes

• Grouping on a nearly unique column. Grouping by job number on a job report gives one group per row and no summary at all.
• Expanding everything straight away. The value is in the collapsed read. Expand exceptions only.
• Three or more grouping levels. Nesting that deep is harder to read than the flat list.
• Exporting grouped and calling it a data extract. If the recipient wants to pivot it, send them flat.

See what EDGEBIC reports across a whole plant on the EDGEBIC product page.